Playing Checkers
by Karma Kat 281
Summary: Hinata looked at Gaara, then Sasuke, then back again. One she had slept with but hadn't really wanted to and one she hadn't slept with but kind of wished she had. This was awkward. Pairing undecided. Slight crack.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, this is just an idea I had. Don't expect it to be updated regurlarly.**

**This goes for the whole series: I don't own Naruto.**

**Ch.1 The Mission**

Tsunade peered over her hands at the two people in front of her. They had woken her from her nap fifteen minutes ago and, although she couldn't say her mood had improved, she was definitely intrigued.

"So, let me get this straight," she finally said. "You need the best kunoichi at seducing we have for a very difficult and dangerous S-ranked mission?"

"Yes."

"And why didn't you give this mission to one of your _own _kunoichi?"

Temari no Sabuko grimaced with chagrin. "We have. They've all failed."

The Hokage raised one eyebrow. _Interesting._

"Please, Tsunade-sama," Kankuro no Sabuko added. "We're desperate."

The blonde leaned back in her chair and sighed. "Fine, we'll take the mission. Who is the target, by the way?"

"Gaara no Sabuko."

- X – X – X -

"_What?!" _In her shock, the quiet kunoichi Hinata Hyuuga forgot all about her shyness and stuttering. "You're hiring me to seduce your own brother?"

The Sand Siblings were in a bit of shock themselves. They didn't know the Hyuuga heiress well but they remembered her from the genin exams and she was the last one they expected as the best seductress in Konoha.

Somewhat acidly, the black haired girl continued, "I'm assuming you don't want me to kill him at the end, right?"

"Of course not," Kankeru said dismissively. "We just want our little bro to get laid."

Slightly taken aback, Hinata answered, "I see."

"I don't really care about that," Temari added. "But if Gaara is concentrating on something else than me and Shik- I mean, my relationships, then that would be really good."

Now Hinata understood. She could imagine what Neji would be like if she ever dated anyone, and she could sympathize with the blonde.

"So you'll want me to make a bit of an impression?" she asked with a smirk.

"Please."

"All right." Hinata turned to Tsunade and said "This is what I'll need."

- X – X – X -

After the silver eyed ninja had left, the brother and sister turned to Tsunade with wide eyes.

"Wow," Temari intoned. "That was- impressive." Kankeru could only nod in agreement.

The Hokage shrugged. "She's been like that for a while, ever since she started going on missions on her own and succeeding. I guess self-confidence can do wonders for a girl. The funny part is, though, that around most in the Village she acts like her old self. Most people, even other ninjas, don't even know how good she is at seducing!"

"Huh," the fan kunoichi said thoughtfully. "I see."

"Know what _I _see?" Kankeru finally spoke. "One hot chick! Maybe after Gaara's done with her, _I'll_ ask her out!"

Temari smacked her brother in the head then turned to Tsunade. "Thanks," she said. "Now we've got to go."

"Of course," the older woman answered mischievously. "Are you going to visit Shikamaru now?"

"Wha-? No-! Um-! Bye!" With a fierce red blush dominating her features, Temari dragged her younger brother out of the Hokage's office.

Tsunade watched them go and smirked. Temari was definitely going to see Shikamaru. And as for the Sabuko sibling's mission, they might get more than they bargained for.

- X – X – X -


	2. Chapter 2

**Ch.2 The Club**

Gaara really did not like loud music, drunken people, and dim lights.

_Then why,_ he asked himself for the ten millionth time, _Why did I let Temari and Kankeru drag me to this place?_

Gaara sat nursing a drink at the bar at the Dancing Storm Club. _Even the name is stupid, _the redhead thought disgustedly.

If he had to turn down one more giggling fangirl or hooker he was going to something drastic.

Luckily, his glare seemed to be keeping the people away. Or maybe what he said to the last couple women.

Gazing blankly at the crowd of writhing shapes, Gaara's green eyes caught a pair of luminous silver ones and held. For some reason, the man could not break the gaze until the girl herself looked away.

Before Gaara turned back to his drink flicked his gaze of the woman with the strange eyes. She had long black hair, great curves, long legs, and a truly _tremendous-_

Noticing where he was staring, the red haired man quickly tore his eyes away, the slightest blush tingeing his cheeks.

Throughout the song Gaara could not help himself from glancing back over to her dancing form occasionally. The looks kept on getting longer and longer without him realizing. She was a really great dancer and her moves just seemed to draw his eyes.

In his snapshots of her Gaara also noticed that the woman was wearing fishnet and a Konoha headband. Now he was intrigued. Why would a Konoha ninja be dancing in a club in the Sand Village?

Suddenly, the girl looked at him and met his eyes. Startled and embarrassed at being caught staring, the Kazekage looked away. When he judged it safe, Gaara looked back, only to get caught in her silver eyes again.

This time, the woman stopped and came towards him. Slightly panicked, the man dove into his drink. He could feel her stop next to him and caught a whiff of sweat and a lavender scent. Slowly and against his will, Gaara's green eyes were drawn towards her.

"Do you want to dance?" she asked. Gaara's eyes widened and he stared at her. _Huh?_

"You were looking at me kind of wistfully, like you wanted to dance," the black haired girl explained. "Do you not have anyone to dance with or something?"

Now Gaara was even more stunned. _Did this Konoha ninja not know who he _was_? He was Gaara no Sabuko! The Kazekage! He had whole clubs of fangirls, dammit! He didn't dance because he didn't want to._

For some reason, though, for the first time that line struck him as weak. And the girl was still looking at him expectantly.

"Um… well, I guess-." Gaara began, not quite knowing what he was saying.

"Great!" the woman pulled him up. "Let's go!"

For the first time in his life, Gaara danced. And he discovered, with the Konoha woman's help, he wasn't actually bad. She certainly seemed to be enjoying herself. He also discovered that, against all expectations, he was having fun.

The feeling surprised the red haired man at first. He certainly wasn't used to it. But after a few more drinks and a lot more dancing, Gaara got used to it.

Finally, exhausted, the two collapsed at a table with drinks. The curvaceous woman pushed her black hair behind her ear haphazardly. In his slightly fuzzy mind Gaara found that extremely attractive.

"I'm Hinata, by the way," she said. "Hinata Hyuuga? You might remember me from the genin exams? And you're Gaara, right?"

For a moment Gaara was surprised. So she _did _know who he was. And now that he thought about it he did remember a silver eyed Hyuuga. But that timid, weak little girl was nothing like the laughing woman in front of him now.

"Yeah," he answered. "What are you doing in the Sand?"

"I was on a mission guarding someone here, but now he's safe and I decided to take some time off before heading back."

Sweating, Gaara nervously cleared his throat and asked, "So, are you staying here? In the Sand, I mean?"

"Yes," she said, looking at him. "But I don't know where, yet."

Gaara knew what he was supposed to say now. In fact, he could almost hear Kankuro screaming in his ear in frustration. But he couldn't get the words out. He had never done this before. He had never wanted to. But this woman was- different. And he was nervous as hell.

"U-um," Gaara finally choked out, "I-I've got a place."

At first Hinata just looked at him, making Gaara wish he was still possessed by the demon, just so he could woosh away in a cloud of sand and never think of this again.

And then she grinned. "I thought you'd never ask!"

Gaara felt profoundly relieved and ridiculously happy at the same time, a very odd feeling for him.

He smirked and stood up. "What are we waiting for, then?"

The red haired Kazekage and the silver eyed kunoichi walked off hand in hand.

- X – X – X -


	3. Chapter 3

**Ch.3 The Morning After**

Hinata stood, wrapped only in a sheet, and gazed out the window. _I could get used to this, _she decided, beholding the stunning vista of the desert that the Kazekage's window commanded.

She had to get back to Konoha, though, and so she pulled on her clothes.

Dressed, the black haired woman stole a piece of paper and a pencil from Gaara's desk. Normally, she wouldn't care, but this was a little different from her normal seduction missions. For one thing, the man she slept with wasn't an evil man. For another, he wasn't dead.

Gaara was a good guy, Hinata decided, gazing at the sleeping form of the Kazekage. In his sleep, with his red hair all tousled and a peaceful look on his face, Gaara was actually pretty cute._ And really good in bed for his first time, as well as really hot, _she thought generously.

On the piece of paper, Hinata wrote: _Dear Gaara, thanks for the night. _As she was about to sign it, the silver eyed girl hesitated, then added, _Next time you're in Konoha, look me up. –Hinata._

Hinata didn't know why she did that, but she didn't really regret it. Gaara might be fun to get to know on his own terms. And she certainly wouldn't mind another night like that one.

Deciding not to think about anymore unless it actually happened, the kunoichi slipped silently out of the window and headed back to Konoha, mission complete.

- X – X – X -


	4. Chapter 4

**Ch.4 The Training**

"I am!"

"No, I am!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Ino-pig!"

"No, _you _don't be ridiculous, Forehead!"

As the two girls stood yelling at each other in the middle of the street, everyone just walked around them. Just another average day in Konoha. As Kiba and Hinata passed by the shouting duo to go train, Sakura spotted them.

"Hey! Kiba!" she shouted, running up to him. "Who's best at seducing, Ino or me?"

"Er…" the brown haired boy looked from one to the other's expectant faces and started to sweat. To be punched or shrieked at? Which one's the better fate? Kiba glanced at Hinata standing next to him and lit on a desperate plan.

"Hinata is!"

"Huh?" All three girls exclaimed. The blonde and pinkette looked towards Hinata in confusion while the silver eyed girl slid a glare towards her "friend."

Undeterred, Kiba continued, "Yeah, didn't you know? Hinata is the best at those kinds of missions in the whole village!"

"Eh?" Ino squealed. "I don't believe it!"

"It's true!" Kiba retorted.

"Bet you twenty dollars she can't seduce Sasuke!"

"Deal!"

As the two shook hands, Sakura and Hinata looked on, stunned. "Um, Ino?" Sakura asked. "Sasuke? Are you sure? I mean, didn't you like him?"

The blonde shook her head. "Not anymore. And neither do you, remember? Besides, this is Hinata we're talking about. There's no way she could do it. I just made an easy twenty bucks."

Now, there was no way Hinata wanted part of this idiotic scheme, but she found herself getting a tad bit annoyed. Okay, a lot pissed off.

_Why not do it? _She thought to herself. _I've never really liked Sasuke but he is hot. And it's not like I couldn't do it. I mean, what guy could resist my, um, assets?_ She looked down at her chest.

"I'll do it," she announced to the still bickering group. "But just so you know, Kiba, when I win I get half of that twenty bucks."

She and Kiba walked away, leaving a staring Sakura and Ino behind. "Um… when did she stop stuttering?" "I… don't know."

_**Two Days Later**_

"Hey, Hinata," Kiba asked, sitting at her kitchen table. "When are you going to do that bet?"

Hinata gazed out her window at the down pouring rain. "Tomorrow."

_**The Next Day**_

Early the next morning, dew still on the grass and the sun shining brightly, Sasuke walked towards his favorite training grounds. Just as he neared it the raven haired man heard a thunking sound and he paused. _Is someone there?_

Sasuke cautiously approached the open clearing circling around to the side. He hid behind a large oak and peered out to see a figure throwing kunai at a tree. In _his _clearing. _What the heck?_

Sasuke didn't recognize the figure, but he did know that he liked what he saw. It was a woman with a great figure wearing tight pants and a mesh shirt- with nothing underneath.

His mind went blank for a moment, but when he finally mastered himself Sasuke approached the woman.

"Hey," he said in a deep voice. "Who are you?"

The woman whipped around, eyes wide. It was then that Sasuke recognized the silver eyes and long black hair as belonging to Hinata Hyuuga, a kunoichi from his village.

"Oh, it's you," the dark eyed man said, still raking her up and down with his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"Sa-Sasuke-san!" Hinata squeaked. "U-um, m-my training ground was flooded, um you know with the rain, so… I went here. But I can leave if this is your spot!"

The woman darted towards her coat, laying in a heap at the edge of the training ground and had almost reached it when Sasuke said, "Wait."

Hinata paused and looked at him. Sasuke continued, "You can still train here."

Slightly confused, the black haired woman said, "Oh, um… thank you."

The tall man gestured, "Come here."

Hesitantly, Hinata approached and stood where he directed her, standing in front of Sasuke facing the tree she was throwing at earlier.

She flinched as she felt Sasuke's warm hand encase her own. Then she realized that he had given her a kunai. Waiting for him to move away Hinata was startled when Sasuke didn't let go.

Feeling his warm heat on her hand and against her back and his breath stirring her hair, Hinata was frozen, red taking up all of her face.

"This is how you throw a kunai," Sasuke said, directing her hand. "You were letting your wrist drop."

"U-um," was all Hinata could get out in her invaded personal space. The man instructed, "Try it by your self," and dropped his hand.

Hinata threw kunai after kunai but never got a perfect bull's-eye; a certain Uchiha's distracting presence was to blame for that. Instead of backing away, Sasuke seemed to get closer and closer, until Hinata could feel him flush against her back. Finally, out of pure luck more than anything, she hit the target dead center.

She relaxed, expecting Sasuke to step back, but instead the male brought his arms around her, one hand resting on each hip.

Hinata froze, eyes wide. Breath choppy, she asked, "S-Sas-Sasuke-s-san? Wh-what are you-?"

"Shhh…" the dark haired man breathed against her neck. "You passed that part but now it's time for the next part of your training."

"U-um, wh-what-?"

"It's time for a little history quiz."

Puzzled, Hinata tilted her head but didn't move away. "Ok…"

"Who was the first person to invent wind jutsu?"

"Um, I d-don't know…"

"Incorrect." Sasuke moved his large hands onto Hinata's pale stomach under her shirt, one resting a little higher than the other.

"What did Kenpachi-sama do?"

"He was… a kage?"

"Incorrect." Sasuke's hands moved farther apart, one going up Hinata's shirt and one sliding down her naval until two fingers were in her pants.

Hinata opened her mouth to protest but all that came out was a little, "oh!" Her eyes slid closed and her head tilted back.

Sasuke smirked against her neck and said, "Last question. What turns me on?"

Hinata's silver eyes flew open in shock, but she hesitated and said, "Um, I- I think I know the answer to this one…"

It was the dark eyed man's turn to be shocked as the woman timidly turned her head toward his and gave a chaste little kiss on the corner of his mouth.

The Uchiha's eyes dilated and turned predatory as he gazed down at the slight woman. "Correct," he growled and whipped her around and against a tree.

Sasuke slid one arm around Hinata's waist and put the other on the tree above her while he kissed up and down Hinata's neck. She sighed and leaned into him until he gave her a gentle nip, causing her to yelp in surprise. As Sasuke worked his way up towards her mouth Hinata got a little braver and started kissing him back.

It was difficult to take Hinata's shirt off while they were making out so fiercely but an Uchiha never backs down from a challenge and Hyuugas aren't adverse to them either.

With both Sasuke and Hinata's shirts off and pants looking to head that way next, things were starting to get a little steamy.

Between kisses, Sasuke panted out confidently, "Don't worry, Hinata. It won't hurt that bad."

Hinata paused, and pushed his head back so she could look him in the eyes. "Hold on. You think I'm a virgin?"

"Aren't you?"

Hinata broke the news gently to a confused Sasuke that she had not been a virgin for a long time, ever since a seducing mission she had been sent on when she was fifteen.

"But even if I'm not a virgin," Hinata finished, "doesn't mean that I sleep with just anyone. Excuse me."

She pushed a puzzled Sasuke away and stepped away from the tree, pulling on her shirt as she went. Scooping to gather her coat, the white eyed girl said back to Sasuke, recovering her stutter, "S-sorry Sasuke-san, but I h-have to go now. M-maybe I'll see you around sometime."

Hinata threw one last kunai at a random tree and walked off, leaving Sasuke VERY frustrated and with the worst case of frustrated need he'd ever had in his life.

_Yes! Ten bucks! _Hinata crowed in her mind. _Take that Ino!_

- X – X – X -


	5. Chapter 5

**Ch.5 The Audience**

Ino, Sakura, and Kiba stared with open jaws at the blank screen in front of them. The last sight they saw from their camera hidden in a tree at the training ground was the point of a kunai hurtling towards them, and then the screen had shuddered into black.

The two girls were completely flummoxed, having never seen the icy Uchiha ever show that much emotion about anything. Kiba- well, let's just say he was wiping away a bloody nose and would be hiding his lap under a pillow for some time.

"But- I don't get it!" Ino said, stupefied. "Is she just really lucky?"

"How could she be sure she didn't know those answers? And what if her wrist _didn't _drop while throwing a kunai? And what if-!"

"Ino, Ino, Ino," Kiba interrupted, shaking his head condescendingly. "Do you really think she didn't know those answers? And that she could make jounin without being able to throw a kunai straight? And that her body would be hidden from the camera by Sasuke's body the whole time? And that when she bent to pick up her coat her butt was just _conveniently _turned in Sasuke's direction? Or for that matter, that she just happened to pick the day to seduce him on the day after it rained!"

"You mean," Sakura said, finally catching on, "She planned every aspect of that?"

"Well, she probably didn't expect him to quiz her and just thought on her feet for that one, but everything else? Definitely."

The two girls were almost horrified by the depths of the shy Hyuuga heiress's deviousness. Without another word, Ino reached in her pocket and handed over twenty bucks. Kiba smirked.

Just then, the girl in question came tramping in to Sakura's house, where they were watching the video. "Enjoy the show?" she asked with a smirk to match Kiba's.

The two girls just stared at her with gaping mouths.

"But still…" Hinata's face turned wistful as she glanced back towards the training grounds. "I kind of wish… never mind." She seemed to shake the mood away and turned towards Kiba with an outstretched hand. "Where's my ten dollars?"

Kiba gave her a ten and Sakura asked, "What are you going to do now?"

Pretending not to understand, Hinata answered, "Buy some pocky! Bye!" She bounded away.

Kiba followed and Ino left too, to go home for dinner. Before she shut the door, though, she turned towards Sakura and said, "One thing is for sure. I'm never going to underestimate Hinata again."

- X – X – X -

**Yeah, yeah, yeah totally ooc for Hinata and Sasuke. But whatever, it's my fanfic so meh! (I'm sticking out my tongue even though you can't see it.)**


	6. Chapter 6

Sasuke threw kunai after kunai at his target. For some reason the tips kept on dropping, just like Hinata's. _Hinata._

The frustrated man stopped and ran his hand through his black hair. For some reason she- especially certain parts of her- kept popping into his head, disrupting him asleep or awake. And now, Hinata was interfering with his training. That was crossing the line. The man stalked off to find the Hyuga girl. She was going to pay.

- X – X – X -

When Sasuke found her, predictably at her training ground, the black haired Hyuga girl was slumped over in front of one of the wooden poles used for kicking and punching. As Sasuke approached he saw the dark smears on the pad and knew (he was a ninja after all) them to be blood. Then he noticed Hinata's torn and grimy clothes and the blood that covered her.

In alarm (although he'd never admit it) Sasuke hurried over and reached for Hinata's shoulder. Before he could touch her, the girl slowly brought up her head and looked at him through her bangs. She looked, but she didn't see him. Her face was absolutely emotionless and her silver eyes were blanker then normal and seemed to be staring at some horrible nightmare only she could see.

"Are you hurt?" Sasuke asked, now somehow afraid to touch her. (Again, he'd never admit it.) She didn't answer. As Sasuke was just about to grab her and rush her to the hospital, Hinata finally spoke. "No."

"Huh?"

"This blood," Hinata looked down at her red hands with the same expression on her face. "It's not mine."

Sasuke understood then, and leaned back. He'd had missions like that too, where it was "successful" but at the end of it you have so much blood on your hands you feel like you will never be clean again. He'd never fallen apart like Hinata, though. He shook his head, somewhat disappointed. _Guess she really is weak._

_WHACK!_

Sasuke's onyx eyes widened as a two inch long splinter flew past his shapely nose. Hinata's fist was in- and I mean in, not on- the post with it cracked all around. She had almost reached through to the other side. The girl's long black hair fell around her outstretched arm as she looked down at the ground. Slowly, she looked up, her eyes now focused and _angry. _"Screw this," she breathed, and leapt to her feet.

Surprised, Sasuke belatedly got up too, just in time to get whipped in the face by Hinata's hair as she turned and sprinted into town. Left behind, Sasuke stood frozen and extremely confused. Then a corner of his mouth lifted in a smirk. _She's not getting away that easily._

- X – X – X -

Twenty minutes later found an amused Sasuke and an extremely pissed Hinata at a bar. Luckily, the black haired woman who was glaring off into space with white knuckled fists on her lap didn't seem to be mad at Sasuke. "Bad mission?" he said fake-sympathetically, "Let me buy you a drink." All thoughts of "making her pay for disrupting his training" were gone and he was basically trying to get into her pants. The woman looked at him wryly like she knew exactly what he was thinking, and shrugged. "Sure. Why not?"

Well, one drink led to another, then another, then five more, and Sasuke was drunk under the table. Hinata dragged him to his apartment (only weaving slightly) and then took off, with just one look behind her. "Yeah," she said, her eyes haunted. "It was bad."

The next morning Sasuke woke up knowing three things: he was on his front stoop, his head hurt like hell, and he was in love with Hyuga Hinata.

- X – X – X -

Just outside the outskirts of Konoha, three cloaked figures emerged from the trees. "Well, it's not the Sand," one of them said, "But we sure can have fun here." The other two nodded. One, with a shocking head of red hair, lifted the corner of his mouth in a small smile. _Hinata, here I come._


	7. Chapter 7

7. Soap Opera Mission

"Hinata." Once again, the dark haired kunoichi was standing in front of Tsunade-sama's desk, waiting for an assignment.

She has no idea what's about to hit her.

"Your mission," Tsunade started, "should you choose to accept it- no, no, just kidding, you have no choice," she waved it off, laughing. "But really, your mission is to the Kazegage and his siblings around Konoha. Make the three of them feel welcome."

"What?" Hinata gasped. She hadn't felt this much fear since the mission with the clown, the hammer, and the tapioca pudding! Now that was scary. "B-b-but Temari-san is the ambassador here! Shouldn't she know her way around by now?"

"Well, yeeeesss, _technically_, but she'll be busy a lot so you'll basically just be showing around Gaara!"

Hinata slumped. She knew it. "How much are they paying you?"

"What are you talking about, Hinata?" Tsunade laughed, surreptitiously sliding a large jug of the Sand's finest liquor behind her desk with her foot. "Bribing the Hokage? I'm offended!"

"Whatever," the girl mumbled, hiding her eyes with her hand. Talk about awkward! Not only was it a one night stand, she was ordered to do it, at the request of his siblings no less! If he ever found out… She remembered his demon aura and shivered. Scary!

_And what the hell possessed me to say "Look me up if you're ever in town", huh? Just because he was cute-!_

Then Hinata remembered something. As a last ditch effort, she burst out, "Doesn't he have Suna to run? How can he just come moonlighting here?"

The Hokage shrugged. "He's on vacation." Now the blonde woman's eyes narrowed and she glared at the girl. "I'm sure I don't need to make this clear," she growled, "but DON'T piss off the Kazekage of Suna right after our alliance was just cemented!"

Hinata shriveled. "Yes, Hokage-sama."

That's how, a couple of hours later, she ended up waiting at the gates of Konoha for the guy she had a one night stand with and skipped out on and his siblings, who had paid her to do it. Can anyone say soap opera?

Gritting her teeth, she did her best to smile as the three figures in Sand gear appeared in the distance and got closer and closer.

The Sand siblings finally got within speaking distance. Temari and Kankuro were grinning from ear to ear and Gaara was expressionless as usual. "H-hello," Hinata managed to say.

"Hello!" Temari answered, "Where are we staying?"

"Ah- in the guest house on Cedar Street-."

"Great! I know where that is. I really want to show Kankuro this great puppet shop. You can show Gaara where the house is and he can take our stuff there, okay?"

And just like that Gaara was loaded down with all their bags and luggage and he and Hinata were standing alone in the street.

"Okay…" the black haired kunoichi nervously laughed. "Well, the place is this way."

As they walked next to each other in silence all she could think was "_Awkward, awkward, awkward!"_

"Hinata," started Gaara, his deep voice startling the girl in question so much that she jumped. Raising his eyebrows, the redhead asked what was wrong.

"Oh, n-nothing, ha ha ha," Hinata's fake laughter didn't fool Gaara and he looked at her seriously and said, "Hinata, its okay. You don't have to be nervous of me." He put the bag he was holding in his right hand down and slowly reached across to take the blushing girl's hand.

He didn't make it though, because Sasuke appeared out of nowhere and smoothly grabbed Hinata's hand first and pulled her back to rest against his chest.

"Eh? Sasuke?" she asked with surprise, "What are you doing here?"

"Just passing by," he answered, conveniently ignoring the fact that he had been stalking her for the past three days, ever since she left him on his porch.

The Kazekage furiously glared at the black haired ninja who sent the death glare back in spades. Hinata looked from one to the other and casually wriggled out from Sasuke's grip.

As any girl knew, there were only two options in a situation like this: one, get the two in a competition to buy her drinks and shiny things like jewelry, and two, run.

As the two guys continued their glaring competition Hinata slowly backed away. When she judged she was at a safe distance she chose option two and sprinted away.

Gaara and Sasuke didn't notice because the Kazekage was saying, icily polite, that Sasuke was just a simple ninja and he was Kazekage of a village so suck it, and Sasuke was reaching for his kunai.

Meanwhile, Sakura was coming home from work. She had just had an eight hour shift at the hospital. It had not been a good day. A little girl died in her arms, a creepy old man had tried to see up her skirt and to top it all off, she had missed her lunch break.

Evil Sakura, another personality like Inner Sakura only less talked about, was drawing perilously close to surface. She just needed a little spark to get free. As Sakura was heading up the street that Sasuke and Gaara were fighting on she was about to get two very big sparks.

Poor guys.

Sakura saw her former teammate Sasuke standing in the middle of the street nose to nose with the Kazekage, Sharingan on and kunai in both hands. Gaara wasn't holding any weapons but his fists were clenched and he looked just as pissed.

The medic was too tired to care, though, so she just made a detour to pass behind them. Just then, though, Gaara lost it and shoved Sasuke. The Uchiha pushed him back, even harder, and the redhead stumbled into Sakura.

What turned around was Evil Sakura, and she was Not Pleased. On seeing the look in the pink haired kunoichi's eyes Gaara backpedaled furiously and Sasuke tried to casually stroll away.

"Where are you going, Sasuke-kun?" a sickly-sweet voice asked and Sasuke shivered in fear.

The two guys stood there with hanging heads as Sakura ranted at them about the irresponsibility of fighting, especially around other people, and they should always know who was around them they were ninjas weren't they? There was even something thrown in about not looking up people's skirts while Evil Sakura was touching on Respect Towards Women but they had no idea where that came from.

When Gaara, the inexperienced one, tried to interrupt, Sakura punched him and then continued on.

Finally, Evil Sakura was satisfied and she left, leaving a stunned Gaara and a relieved Sasuke. They really weren't in the mood to fight anymore so the both just kind of awkwardly looked at each other and turned away.

"Wait!" Gaara said and Sasuke turned around. "Um… how do I get to the guest house on- I think Cedar Street? Hinata is gone."

Sasuke blinked and looked around. "Whoa, she really is gone! When did that happen?"

"Who knows? So…"

"Oh sure, yeah."

- X – X – X -

Twenty minutes later Gaara's two siblings had stalled as long as they were able to and were now approaching the guest house. Across the street from the house Kankuro suddenly stopped and grabbed his sister's arm. "Hold on!" he said to an annoyed Temari. "What if Hinata stayed over? And they're, you know…"

Temari looked at him in exasperation. "Come on, Kankuro! It's been like two hours! They've got to be done by now."

"Not everyone is as quick as you, sis."

The blonde gave him a warning look and muttered, "And how would you know?" but decided not to take offense. "I guess you have a point. Let's go hide in those bushes over there and see if anyone comes out." She walked off, trailing a dubious Kankuro, who was wondering why they had to hide in the bushes to wait.

They had barely reached the bushes when the door did, indeed open! But the figure that came out was not the young and attractive Hyuuga Hinata but Uchiha Sasuke!

Who was admittedly young and attractive, but still…

"Whoa."

"Yeah."

"No way."

"I thought…"

"Maybe he's…"

"No way!"

"But that means Sasuke is- actually, no wait that doesn't really surprise me."

"Yeah, same here."

"But still, Gaara?"

…

"Screw this, let's just go ask!"

And with that Temari and Kankuro leapt out of the bushes and charged towards Sasuke, who was walking away casually with his hands in his pockets.

They got on either side of him and began walking with him. "Hey, Sasuke, what's up?"

He just glared at them and said, "What do you want?"

"Nothing! We were just wondering, what you were doing coming out of our house?"

"One of your brother's bags broke and spilled all over the ground. I was helping him bring it inside. Why?"

"Er nothing, never mind…"

Sasuke walked away, ticked off, as he listened to the muttered whispers behind him speaking about it being suspicious.

What exactly was suspicious, he wondered, and what did they think really happened?

The shinobi shook it off and walked on. He had better things to do- like find Hinata and sta- I mean, _observe _her so more. Yeah. That's what he meant.


End file.
